Cost-tolerance relationships for non-traditional machining processes

In recent years, non-traditional machining processes have been growing in popularity and their applications have continued to increase. However, very limited research work has been carried out to investigate their economic implications on tolerance allocation. This paper reports on cost-tolerance relationships for non-traditional processes, namely, electrical discharge wire machining and laser beam machining. Medium carbon steel plates are machined using the two processes to obtain cost-tolerance data which are fitted to various mathematical models. A third-degree polynomial function has been found which gives the most representative fit to the data obtained. An example is presented to illustrate the application and to compare the cost implication of the two machining processes.